Official Newsletter of the Turnage Family Association Vol. 29, No. 1 .............................................................................................................. July, 2008
This is the online version of your Turnage family newsletter. For the first time in history, Turnage relatives throughout the world are now able to keep up with news of each other instantly, thanks to the Internet's World Wide Web. We can now be seen and read by anyone on the Internet throughout the world--from China to England, from Argentina on the tip of South America to Canada and Alaska--anywhere our kinfolk are who access the Internet, they now have access to news about their kinfolk.
We NEED YOUR HELP to make this a success: when you hear about a death, wedding, birth, engagement or news about a Turnage relative, PLEASE send us the info. If you see an article in your local newspaper, please clip it out, along with the name and date of the paper from the top of the page and mail it to us.
HELENA, Mt.-- Jean A. Turnage has retired the end of his current term this year as Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court.
Jean has called upon the Montana State Legislature to create a new State Court of Appeals to help alleviate the growing load of cases being considered by the Supreme Court. At present, Montana does not have a court of appeals. And under this system, the high court cannot "weed out" the minor cases.
In 1998, there were 731 cases submitted to the Supreme Court, compared to 633 cases in 1990. The Montana Supreme Court has seven justices. Under Jean's plan, the new court would begin operating in January, 2001. It would be a major accomplishment for Jean.
Although retiring from the court, Jean will still be working. He has returned to his private law practice, with some of his former law partners.
Jean is the son of the late Elmer Turnage and was born in St. Ignatius, Montana. He is a grandson of William Turnage and great grandson of Michael Turnage Jr., a native of Stokes Co., NC who died in Ray Co., Mo.
Our Turnage Family historian and president of the Turnage Family Association, Robert Earl Woodham, is scheduled for his second open-heart surgery in Jan 2006 and will also have a defibrillator implanted in his chest at the same time. This will be his fifth heart operation over the last few years. Robert Earl has not worked now for the last three years as a result of his heart condition. But that has not stopped his work on family history. In fact, the only halt in his work was when his computer went down the first of November 2005. After getting a new computer (thanks to a cousin!), he has been busily restoring files that were lost on the old computer. Despite the heart problems, he still spends 16 to 18 hours a day on family research.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan--Brancy Finkler is bringing literacy and the English language to the hill tribes of Uzbekistan, a former republic in the Soviet Union and now an independent nation in central Asia. After serving a term as an intern in the White House following her graduation from Smith College, Brancy received an appointment to the Peace Corps and was assigned to Uzbekistan for 2 1/2 years.
For the first three months there, from October to December, she lived in the capitol of Tashkent, where she became familiar with the people, customs and language. She then moved to a rural area and will live in a yurt, the traditional central Asian round tent. The nomadic peoples of central Asia have used yurts for thousands of years. They are made of animal skins wrapped over wooden frames, similar to American Indian teepees. She will live without electricity, running water or other modern conveniences for the next two years. She will be teaching English and reading and writing to the tribes people during her tour of duty.
Uzbekistan is not the most ideal place for a young girl to be these days. Although a newly independent nation, the Uzbeks have a tradition as a separate people going back many centuries. The country lies south of the Kazakh Republic and north of Turkmenistan and near western China.
The region has been a hotbed of revolts and inter-tribal warfare since the former Soviet republics gained independence in 1989, especially in neighboring Tadzhikistan. The western part of the country is flat and desert. Irrigation has brought cotton farming to the region along the Amu Darya River.
Brancy is the daughter of Iris Wilcox and her husband Warren Finkler of Monument, Colo. She is the granddaughter of Eunice Turnage of Quincy, Fla. and the late Bly Wilcox and a great granddaughter of Gordon Turnage and Mamie Johnson. We hope Brancy will have a happy and peaceful stay in Uzbekistan as she brings new knowledge to the folks there and leave them with a new friendship toward America.
COLUMBIA, Miss.--A reunion of Turnages from this area was held here 3 May at the Marion County Activities Center.
A covered dish dinner was held and kinfolk spent time renewing family ties with cousins they hadn't seen in a long time.
If you are reading this family newsletter, you are apparently a member of the Turnage family. If you are and if you appreciate this effort, then join and support the Turnage Family Association--the family club which sponsors this website and much more. Help keep it on the air and help gather and preserve our family heritage.
write us: son of Norma Turnage and a member of a Turnage family branch
who left North Carolina in the 1800's and settled in Seminole County, Georgia.
His hobby since childhood has been family history.
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